Nicola King (also Blackstock and De Souza) is a fictional character in the ITV soap opera, Emmerdale. She has been played by Nicola Wheeler since she joined the soap in 2001. Wheeler quit her role in January 2006, with her on-screen departure airing in March. Wheeler chose to return to the soap eighteen months later and made her return in September 2007. She also took maternity leave throughout 2015, and Nicola departed temporarily on 26 March 2015 to go to Dubai to work there for six months. She made a brief appearance on 7 May 2015 via webcam, and then made her full-time return on 11 November 2015, when she was kicked out of Dubai for an incident that happened to her there.